The Stroller: 'Get it straight'

Published: Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 3:15 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, January 25, 2013 at 4:24 p.m.

Dennis Dechant of Gaffney says S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley should be pointing a finger at herself when placing blame for the security breach at the Department of Revenue. “Why is it that our governor keeps making excuses or blames the federal government for her Republican administration’s problems?” he wonders. “I refer to the latest security breach where millions of South Carolina taxpayers’ Social Security numbers, as well as other personal information, were obtained by hackers. Let’s get it straight. It was not the federal government’s fault. It was the governor’s fault. It was her administration’s fault. The information should have been encrypted — not some of it but all of it. When you buy online, your information is encrypted. Yes, it could and still does happen, but it is at least encrypted. The website shows you, and in most cases tells you. I will end with this: I bet those people who we taxpayers pay have the best security they can afford on their home computers. But when it comes to the taxpayer, it is always the same excuses, and in the governor’s case, someone else is blamed.”

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‘STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY’: Carrie Binetti of Boiling Springs agrees with George Burnett’s thinking that women are important election voters, but she rejects his notion that women were swayed by promises of undeserved benefits in the latest presidential election. “Many married, educated women like myself, who worked most of their lives to help support the family, don’t want to lose decades of struggle for equality,” she says. “The right to decide ‘when’ and ‘if’ to have children is essential if women need to work. If, as a society, we want to cut the costs of social services such as food stamps, welfare, Social Security and Medicaid, then we need to reduce the number of children born into poverty. If all men took full financial responsibility for each and every one of their biological children born in or out of wedlock, then women’s reproductive rights wouldn’t be an issue. Mr. Burnett, I’m sorry, but the good-’ol-boys network no longer dominates politics. According to the political commentary of the latest election, women were important in deciding the election results and will be in future elections.”

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BUTT OUT: Outside influences are out of control, declares Gordon Summey. “Let’s cut to the chase,” he says. “Gun control is such an issue because people do not trust the federal government in general and the Obama administration in particular. Along with that goes influence from out of state and those who move in-state who do not like things here and want to change them. I have said it over and over, and now we have a group from, of all places, Wisconsin trying to tell us how and when we can pray. That is a blue state, I believe, and what business is it of theirs how, when and where we pray?”

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ODDS AND ENDS: Let’s recycle those Christmas cards by sending them to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. The recycled cards will be sold to help continue work for abused, abandoned and neglected children. Send your cards to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, Recycled Card Program, 100 St. Jude’s St., Boulder City, Nev., 89005. You can order recycled cards from St. Jude’s either by phone at 877-977-7572 or by mail at St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, ATTN: Donor Office, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, Nev., 89006-0100.

<p>Dennis Dechant of Gaffney says S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley should be pointing a finger at herself when placing blame for the security breach at the Department of Revenue. “Why is it that our governor keeps making excuses or blames the federal government for her Republican administration's problems?” he wonders. “I refer to the latest security breach where millions of South Carolina taxpayers' Social Security numbers, as well as other personal information, were obtained by hackers. Let's get it straight. It was not the federal government's fault. It was the governor's fault. It was her administration's fault. The information should have been encrypted — not some of it but all of it. When you buy online, your information is encrypted. Yes, it could and still does happen, but it is at least encrypted. The website shows you, and in most cases tells you. I will end with this: I bet those people who we taxpayers pay have the best security they can afford on their home computers. But when it comes to the taxpayer, it is always the same excuses, and in the governor's case, someone else is blamed.”</p><p>•</p><p>'STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY': Carrie Binetti of Boiling Springs agrees with George Burnett's thinking that women are important election voters, but she rejects his notion that women were swayed by promises of undeserved benefits in the latest presidential election. “Many married, educated women like myself, who worked most of their lives to help support the family, don't want to lose decades of struggle for equality,” she says. “The right to decide 'when' and 'if' to have children is essential if women need to work. If, as a society, we want to cut the costs of social services such as food stamps, welfare, Social Security and Medicaid, then we need to reduce the number of children born into poverty. If all men took full financial responsibility for each and every one of their biological children born in or out of wedlock, then women's reproductive rights wouldn't be an issue. Mr. Burnett, I'm sorry, but the good-'ol-boys network no longer dominates politics. According to the political commentary of the latest election, women were important in deciding the election results and will be in future elections.”</p><p>•</p><p>BUTT OUT: Outside influences are out of control, declares Gordon Summey. “Let's cut to the chase,” he says. “Gun control is such an issue because people do not trust the federal government in general and the Obama administration in particular. Along with that goes influence from out of state and those who move in-state who do not like things here and want to change them. I have said it over and over, and now we have a group from, of all places, Wisconsin trying to tell us how and when we can pray. That is a blue state, I believe, and what business is it of theirs how, when and where we pray?”</p><p>•</p><p>ODDS AND ENDS: Let's recycle those Christmas cards by sending them to St. Jude's Ranch for Children. The recycled cards will be sold to help continue work for abused, abandoned and neglected children. Send your cards to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, Recycled Card Program, 100 St. Jude's St., Boulder City, Nev., 89005. You can order recycled cards from St. Jude's either by phone at 877-977-7572 or by mail at St. Jude's Ranch for Children, ATTN: Donor Office, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, Nev., 89006-0100.</p>